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How can we have more than one To Do (leftmost) column?

Ross Curtis_dsykod

Hi all,

I've had a search and couldn't find another thread covering this, although it's possible one has.

We have two problems:

1. We cannot set-up a board with three columns set as 'To Do' (typically Left most column) so that the Story Points of the tickets in these three columns count in the To Do grey lozenge of the Backlog view:

Screenshot 2024-06-05 at 13.13.50.png

So this is the comprise, and our current board configuration:

Screenshot 2024-06-05 at 13.16.17.png

And this is a diagram of what we desire:
desired sprint.png

2. Now that we have only a 'Ready for dev' leftmost column, the tickets that have statuses with 'Open', 'Estimate', or 'Define / Design' are no longer visible anywhere in our Backlog view!

Open, Define, and Estimate tickets not visible.png

Please could we get help solving point 1, which should then solve point 2 as well?

I definitely know this is possible, because we had this set-up on an old Jira project that I can no longer access:

Sprint Backlog view with To Do story points for 3 columns.png Sprint View with 3 To Do columns.png

I have a feeling it might be solved by editing the Workflow which currently uses a Simplified Workflow:

Screenshot 2024-06-05 at 13.47.27.png

Any guidance on this massively appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
Ross

Accepted answers

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Trudy P Claspill

Hello @Ross Curtis

Welcome to the Atlassian community.

Thank you for the thorough explanation of what you have set up.

For point #1 you mention the To Do lozenge in the backlog screen. That is locked to the left-most column of your board, There is no work around for that currently. I have not yet been able to find a change request in Atlassian's public backlog related to this, but I may not have found the right search terms to find it.

For point #2

2. Now that we have only a 'Ready for dev' leftmost column, the tickets that have statuses with 'Open', 'Estimate', or 'Define / Design' are no longer visible anywhere in our Backlog view!

For an issue to be visible in the board or backlog views the status must be mapped to a column of the board. You need to move the statuses from the Unmapped Statuses area to one of the columns on the board. Notice the text at the top of that area.

Screenshot 2024-06-05 at 8.30.41 AM.png

You can have multiple statuses mapped to a single column if you don't want each of these statuses to have their own column.

Ross Curtis_dsykod

Hey @Trudy P Claspill - pleasure to be here and thanks for your prompt, detailed reply!

RE point 1. Do you think having two boards may solve our issue here? And was how I had achieved the same outcome before on a prior Jira project at another business?

One board could be the regular like we currently have, and the other is a design board, where the left most column is "New" and the rightmost column is "To Do".

That way all of the statuses are used in at least one board column and we could see all items in the backlog view? And probably in the board view, if there is an option to see all columns from all sprints?

Thanks again,
Ross

Trudy P Claspill

And was how I had achieved the same outcome before on a prior Jira project at another business?

To what "same outcome" are you referring?

What exactly is the outcome you want?

1. The To Do lozenge on the backlog totalling the points of all issues that have a gray status?

The only way to achieve that is to have all the gray status issues mapped to the left-most column of your board.

2. Having all the issues of all statuses visible on your board?

The only way to achieve that is to map all the statuses to columns on your board.

Are the images of a backlog screen and board under your "no longer access" statement images of the "same outcome before"? They don't show point 1 as satisfied. They confirm that the lozenge counts only the points in the left most column. They do confirm point 2 because all the gray statuses are mapped to columns on the board.

It would be helpful to me to get clarification on exactly what you want to achieve.

One board could be the regular like we currently have, and the other is a design board, where the left most column is "New" and the rightmost column is "To Do".

What statuses would be mapped to the "New" column?

That way all of the statuses are used in at least one board column and we could see all items in the backlog view? And probably in the board view, if there is an option to see all columns from all sprints?

If the statuses are used in board columns on different boards, then the issues in those statuses will display in only the backlog associated with each board. If you map the currently Unmapped Statuses to columns on a second board, the issues in those statuses will appear in the backlog only of the second board.

If you want to see all statuses and all columns and all the sprints to which issues in those statuses are assigned in one board, then you have to set up one board where all statuses are mapped to columns on the board.

You can have multiple boards so that each board gives you a subset of the data, plus a board that gives you all the data. Boards are just a way to view and manipulate the issues, so any change made to an issue in any one of the boards will be reflected in the other boards if the issue is visible in the other boards.

Ross Curtis_dsykod

Hi Trudy,

Thanks for your help again.

The 'same outcome' to which I was referring was one where we mapped statuses 'To Do', 'Define', 'Ready to develop' to their own columns and yet managed to total up the Story Points in the To Do lozenge of the Backlog view for tickets placed across these three left-most columns in the Active Sprint view.

This video screenshot showed us previously using the columns in this way: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-questions/How-can-we-have-more-than-one-To-Do-leftmost-column/qaq-p/2718265?lightbox-message-images-2718265=328073i208C3CBE0073435D#M1023634
(although I appreciate it doesn't show the actual Column to Status mapping)

And this video screenshot showed the total story points in the 'To Do' lozenge of the Backlog view: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-questions/How-can-we-have-more-than-one-To-Do-leftmost-column/qaq-p/2718265?lightbox-message-images-2718265=328072i98F1C97A243F9045#M1023634

This is actually the only outcome I want, and although I am uncertain of how, I am certain we had it functioning like this before, which goes against your point:

The only way to achieve that is to have all the gray status issues mapped to the left-most column of your board.

I am meeting with an old engineer friend who originally set up that Jira project next week, and hope to have an update on how to achieve this, but from a brief phone chat he thinks we had a custom workflow.

Best wishes,
Ross

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